Egyptian
private sector rejects all forms of normalization with Tel-Aviv
Arab News
13 April 2002
Egyptian businessmen and financiers have expressed their total
willingness to accept any government decision calling for an economic
boycott of Israel, el Arabi newspaper reported yesterday.
The businessmen also confirmed their commitment to continue rejecting
any form of normalisation of economic or trade ties with the Jewish
State, the daily economic newspaper said.
Mohammed Farid Khamis, head of the 10th of Ramadan Industrial City's
Investors' Association, said that international treaties, like the
Egyptian Israeli peace agreement, are binding and it takes a long
time and elaborate measures to dissolve or rescind them.
However, these treaties do not commit businessmen of the signatory
nations towards closer cooperative ties and, consequently, they
are absolutely free to make whatever decisions that serve their
national interests, he said.
The Egyptian private sector cannot tolerate Israel any more because
of the horrible crimes being committed by Sharon against the Palestinians,
he added.
"Israel should be treated in the same way that it treats the
Palestinians. The Jewish state should be isolated completely and
full economic sanctions must be imposed on it," Khamis told
the paper.
In the meantime, the Egyptian private sector has prepared huge
consignments of urgent relief aid and medical supplies to be sent
to the besieged Palestinians through the Red Cross and other international
organisations, he said.
"But the Israelis have refused entry to these consignments
for the Palestinian people who need them badly."
In a prompt response to this brutality, Khamis said, Egyptian manufacturers
have decided to sever all trade transactions with Israel and to
stop importing components or industrial commodities from international
companies in which Israel is a partner.
He also said that the Egyptian private sector has taken the initiative
by calling for the formation of an international tribunal to try
the Israeli prime minister and his army commanders for committing
war crimes.
The current deplorable situation in the region proves that Israel
is a racist and expansionist state that does not want peace and
applies ethnic cleansing policies, Khamis said.
He called on Egyptian expatriate businessmen to launch an active
media campaign to expose Israel's barbaric practices against the
Palestinians in all business and economic circles overseas.
In a related development, the head of the Egyptian Importers' Association
told Al-Arabi that the association has adopted a set of punitive
measures against Israel.
"The measures incorporate an immediate halt to all import
dealings with Israeli companies, as well as international firms
in which the Jewish State is a partner," Moustafa Zaky told
the paper.
"If any importer is found guilty of dealing with Israel, his
company name will be immediately struck off the association's register
without a warrant and the firm's name will be made public, so that
people will refrain from buying his goods," Zaky said.
"It is quite illegal and unjust to import goods from a country
like Israel that kills unarmed women and children," he added.
The chambers of commerce and importers associations of Arab and
Muslim nations should convene an emergency conference to declare
a boycott of all goods imported from the United States or any other
Western country that supports Israel, he suggested.
Ahmed Arafa, a garment industry tycoon, told the paper that all
Egyptian investors and factory owners would fully support any action
that the government decides to take against Israel.
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